


Day 1

by gbMS



Series: Days [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pete's World, acclimating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-02 07:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11504706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gbMS/pseuds/gbMS
Summary: The first 24 hours of Tentoo's arrival in Pete's World.





	1. Journey's Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Please bear with me I haven't written in YEARS. 
> 
> (I don't own anything. It doesn't need saying, but I thought I'd say it anyway.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being left together doesn't mean things are settled; the Metacrisis Doctor and Rose have an awkward talk.

Rose looked at him after the TARDIS disappeared, its sounds completely gone, not even an echo to hold on to. He had taken her hand, his large eyes trying to make sense of her hurt hazel ones. They stood there for a few minutes in each other's eyes. Rose broke they eye contact first, swallowing and looking around her and finally seeing her mother walk ahead, giving them their space while on her phone. Seeing Jackie occasionally glance back to the couple as she spoke on her mobile -inevitably badly or bluntly explaining the situation to Rose's father- made Rose quietly turn and pull him with her before she gently released the hand she held to slowly follow. She hugged her arms around her torso, letting out her breath in on big huff before she let out a small laugh at herself sardonically. He was right by her side, matching her unenthusiastic gate. They were 50 meters behind Jackie and falling behind even further with their pensive pace.

Hands in his pockets as they sauntered, he broke the silence after a few minutes.

“Huh. So this is me on the receiving end of my own,” quickly put his hands out for finger quotes around the next words as he spoke, “magnanimous behavior” he paused for a second, gently kicking a rock the nestled in the sand of the darkening beach. “Well isn't that wizard. I really bring ‘self-sacrificing’ to a whole new level, don’t I?”

She didn't know what to say to that, but looked up at his face for a brief second before returning to her previous stance of staring at the horizon over the and the path ahead. She spoken to him, but kept her face neutral and not looking at him. “'m not sure tha's what it was. 'm not entirely sure what it was, really.”

He looked at her and stopped walking, his inaction causing her to a slow stop as he tried to gain her eye contact. “I was trying to… give you something. Everything. You _deserve_ everything.” She looked almost annoyed at those words, still not looking at his face and continued walking, her pace slowed as her thoughts made it more difficult to concentrate on even the simple task walking. He slowed with her, quietly adding, “I would have kept you as long as I could, this seemed like the only way to go about it, really.”

She stopped.

“There was another way to go about it! He could take me with him! I didn't get a choice, YOU didn't get a choice, he got a choice and he chose sending me somewhere out of the way. Again!”

He waved his hands about to stop her train of thought. “Nonono, sorry, hold on, I didn't. We. He? _He_ didn't. Left you with your mother, with your family, with me. You don’t have to give up anything, best of both worlds! Best thing I could hope for for you. Even said as much. ‘I can spend the rest of my life with you, Rose Tyler, if you want,’”

“An’ who's choice was that?! HIS. HE left us, YOU were left here. HE left me. AGAIN.”

“ _I_ left _you_ with _me_.”

“But...” she looked ahead, twisting her fingers slightly before dropping them in exasperation, “…why?”

“I… hm.” He paused and looked down, rocking on his feet, neither of them looking directly at one another in order to attempt to get through this conversation. “Great big brain, and I’m stupid. I want to do what's best for you, and since I’m clever, I assume I know...”

“Tha'snot your choice.”

“No, it's not, but—”

She stopped again, looking down and flailing her arms in a frustrated manner “He didn’t say goodbye. He didn't say… it.”

“He would have. Or wouldn't have. I…” he paused, “See? Stupid. I know it seems like… he doesn't care. But he does. I know Donna said I was a gift for you but honestly she might be getting stupid, too. Time Lord thing, I think. He was giving himself a chance at what he wants most; you happy. If the last two years have proven anything it's that I… he… WE want you. Need you.” He looked at her a moment before looking out to the sea and scratching a sideburn at his own vulnerability. “As for saying goodbye… well, I can't say I've been in the position of watching myself getting everything I've ever wanted and having to walk away from it with a ‘see ya, have a nice life!’” he said, wagging his head quickly. “He can't handle that. I love you. Too much, maybe. He just had to leave.”

“You and he have done _nothing_ but opposites! _You_ destroyed the Daleks, _he_ didn’t. _You_ were left here, _he_ wasn't. Who's to say he wants me? Certainly not _you_. Assume, if _you_ want me, _he_ doesn’t. _You_ answered my question, _he_ didn’t…” she swallowed. “ _You_ kissed me, he—"

He whipped out an accusatory finger at that, “Oi, YOU kissed me.”

“Because YOU said—”

“Because I do! Him, me, I, we! The Doctor!” He sighed and grabbed her hand again, turning to the sea to shout as long as he could, “THE DOCTOR LOVES ROSE TYLER AND IS A MASSIVE GIT!” Her other hand lifted to cover her mouth, attempting to hide the shock and tiny smirk she felt threatening to erupt. He managed to crack his lips up at that and turned to her a bit. “I did destroy the Daleks,” he admitted, his face fallen and nodding slightly, “I'm pretty sure he was close to it, closer than he'd like to admit if I couldn't bare having _not_ done it. That little bit of human just sending me to quicker decisions to protect those that I…” he blinked and swallowed his last words. “As for… the other thing,” he looked pointedly at her, “I… he.. we...” he stopped his train of thought and muttered, “Blimey pronouns are exhausting.” He took a deep breath, “ _We_ wanted you to make a choice. The right choice. He... I... _We_ , both, love you. But if you're with _me_ , I, that is, him, save for a few hours ago, get you, which is what I-we-he wanted. And _you_ can have everything _he_ couldn’t give you. Family. A life. A proper, solid, happy, day-to-day, dinners-with-your-mum whole life, not a half one. I told you once, you could spend your whole life with me, but... he couldn't with you. This is… fair. Sort of. This means _I_ don't have to live… on. Without you.”

She looked around, thinking. Rose finally made eye contact, eyes falling to worry, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes again, biting her lower lip, “But now he does.”

“True, but you don't. And he needs that. I certainly do. And since I'm him it’s pretty perfect for me.” He smiled at his own phrasing.

Her lips contorted in a questioning stance. “But now you're stuck here. You hate stuck. Carpets, windows, doors—”

He grabbed her hands, and peered straight into her hazel eyes, his brown ones large and sincere. “Stuck with you? Not so bad.”

“Yeah?” she blinked back tears, trying to maintain as much eye contact she could through the perpetual water gathering in hers.

“Yeah.” He nodded, lowering his forehead into hers for a moment, each closing their eyes.

She sniffing slightly, her posture shifting as she opened her eyes and considered him as he opened his and lifted his head from hers. She stepped back a bit, keeping his hand in hers, wiping the tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she sobered.

That accusatory finger came out like his, pointing and wagging at him. “‘s not to say I’m not royally miffed at you.”

He looked down at the sand and nodded as he hummed an affirmative noise.

“...An’ we got loads ta sort out…”

Again, he shifted back on his heels and nodded, sinking a bit into the wet sand, daring to look upon her with his eyes but not lift his head.

She brushed her hair out of her face and looked to the water at her side for a moment before turning back to him. “You're... still you.”

“I’m still me.”

He let go of one of her hands and took her chin gently in his, eyes searching hers for doubt in order to squash it with his certainty. Her eyes closed as she stretched up slightly, he leaned down to her and kissed her tenderly. She returned it, her arms around his neck as he wrapped his other arm around her to pull her a little closer to him. She melted into his embrace and kiss the way she hadn’t before.

“OI, YOU TWO!” echoed Jackie’s voice down the beach, breaking up the kiss in shock, jerking their heads toward the source of the shout before they could even think to unwrap their arms from one another. Jackie was leaning on a black car, arms folded, foot in a position to have been inevitably tapping the ground in what was apparently impatience. “IT’S BLOODY FREEZING AN' I’M TAKIN' THIS CAR TO A HOTEL. IF YOU GUYS DON’T GET YOUR BLOODY ACT TOGETHER IN FIVE MINUTES I'M LEAVIN' WITHOUT YA.”

Rose smiled at him as they straightened, slowly removing their arms from each other's bodies. He left his hand out, wiggled the fingers, and waggled his eyebrows. Rose looked at the hand skeptically and smiled before slowly taking it in hers, fitting as perfectly as it always had. He lifted it to his mouth and kissed the knuckles. “Allons-y?”

She nodded. “Allons-y.”

And they walked briskly towards her mother.

 


	2. Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Car ride to the hotel with Jackie, Rose, and the Doctor

 Jackie looked at the pair on the other side of the car. Pete had called a service to pick them up from the beach, so she sat across from the would-be pair, her daughter staring, expressionless out the window, _or maybe AT the_ _window_ , thought Jackie, _who bloody knew_. The man of the pair looking a bit torn up and vacillating between looking at the back of her daughter’s turned head and the floor while their joined hands rested on the middle seat between them. The ride was due to be just twenty minutes, their booked hotel waiting so they could rest and stretch before the arrival of Pete and Tony arrived to take them home.

“We couldda jus’ jumped on a Zeppelin, gone home, but I figured you two would be due for a good long sleep an' I still haven't gotten used to the bloody things. I keep asking for a plane but apparently it's just not done here, but Pete’s jumping on our private one with Tony, headed here, but they shouldn’t be due for a few hours. Zeppelins can only go so fast, you know.”

Jackie spoke, filling the awkward silence and speaking to no-one in particular. He looked up at her and plastered a seemingly normal expression on his face. “So you're himself then.”

Jackie, always getting to the root of the issue.

“I'm him.” He stretched his smile wide, tilting his head. Rose, for the most part, kept her face mostly facing the window while her eyes went to her mother as she received her answer. “Same man, same face.”

“Okay,” Jackie simply nodded with an eyebrow raised a touch before she, in lightening fast and near imperceptible speed, wound much as the little car could take and slapped him. Just as fast she grabbed the cheek she just inflicted her mighty Tyler-slap upon (and as he could muster his protest ‘Oi!') and kissed it with a noisy wet pop. 

Rose laughed. She actually laughed, smile lighting up the car, sounds of her unbridled humor filling the car. It felt like an eternity between the times he had heard the laugh, his smile substantially brightening as he looked at her despite the ache that resided in his face.

“When we get to the hotel, I’m turning in. 'S been a long few hours, I’m nakkered. Pete made sure to get you a suite, two bedrooms, thank-you-very-much, I expect both those rooms to be used before we’re off. You’ve been jumpin' an awful lot, sweetheart, an' if I’m this exhausted you should be, too, An’ you know how you can’t sleep on zepplin trips.” She took two bottles of oddly colored liquid, complete with the VITEX logo out of a compartment in the door and shoved one at each of them, “An’ hydrate, the pair of ya!”

Rose reluctantly released his hand so they could both open the twist cap of their drinks. The Doctor twisted of the cap, smirking to himself as he sipped the drink, watching Rose simply down the yellowish-orange fizz in a few goes. He looked down at his bottled drink, it’s carbonation and weird taste of tonic, oranges, and cucumbers making his lips smack a bit.

“I know, but all we had was the yellow, there’s blue but we’re out and a green but someone said not to keep it in stock at the house.” Jackie gave a pointed look to Rose, who mouthed ‘ _pear-banana_ ' at the Doctor. His face lost some of it’s color and he shuddered as her mother continued. “’s not bad but it replaces electrolytes or somethin' an’ I reckon you need it, human-y ‘n all, dunno if you even have electrolytes, but you probably should so drink up.”


	3. Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the hotel, Rose and Tentoo sit on the couch and have tea.  
> And talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Angst, apparently, ahead.)

 "So...” She said, concentrating on what appeared to be a very ordinary mug of tea in a very ordinary hotel mug emblazoned with the name of the hotel in overly fancy script. 

They had been in this universe for 1 hour, 28 minutes and 3 seconds. They had been in the hotel for 56 minutes and 12 seconds. She hadn’t said a word in 8 minutes 39 seconds. That last one felt like forever.

“So.” The Doctor said, nodding slowly as he sat across the table of their hotel suite. There was a further pause of silence that felt like an hour but a quick mental check by the Doctor reminded him it was, in fact, less two minutes.

He nodded, looking at his own tea in hopes that it would distract him as greatly as it seemed to do her. Silence stretched on.

“…the… weather's… nice.” He said, not looking out the window there feet from him, staring at his tea. Rose turned her face to him, watching him as he tilt and tap his mug ever-so-slightly and watching the ripples. She laughed quietly. He looked up immediately and grinned. She picked up her mug and settled on the nearby sofa, he doing the same.

“So.” He said again.

“So?” She asked, taking a sip and looking around the room. "Starting not to sound like a word, there, Doctor."

“So... Torchwood?” He said, a bit expectantly, with a coaxing smile tugging his lips.

“Well that's a topic.” She puzzled, thinking of what the full question must have been. “’s… different here. Less VanStatten-y and more… home spun? I think Pete taking over helped.” She swept her hair behind her ear with a hand, trying to keep her self engaged with the Doctor and not looking at random objects around the room in effort to disengage her emotions, which were starting to pile up despite her preference at the moment. Rose took a deep breath and swept those aside as best she could. “Jake's there, yeah? And the three of us, me, Jake, and Mickey, we were a team. Mostly clean up, at first, goin' places, makin' sure technologies were out of hands.” He beamed with a bit of pride at that. Eventually another team came in contact with a real alien, group of 'em, and they freaked --culture shock, yeah? Didn't take much for me to be shoved in the situation. Took care of it, apparently, Bi-oh-nix, I'm think? Never met 'em, but they were kids mostly, didn’t know what they were doin'. Nothin’ _really_ bad, but after that Torchwood came up with protocols and the like…” she was staring at her tea again. “Noticed the stars. Stared at ’em often enough when I got here. Walls of reality started to collapse. Not great with temporal mechanics, me, but better than some, apparently. Mickey an I…” she smiled a bit, a sad smile, knowing Mickey was gone and the likely hood of seeing him again... She sighed. “We knew it was somethin' big, bigger than Torchwood could handle. An' I wanted…”

“You wanted to come back.” The Doctor nodded. She nodded a bit in return, smirking slightly. He beamed. A wide, manic smile growing on his face before he tempered hit at the sight of her.

She was smiling weakly back, her eyes quickly searching his face before returning her gaze to her tea and brought it to her lips to sip. “Spent time in the archives, reading about what they know. Seems they think they know more than they do, an' havin' the ‘ _Vitex_ _Heiress_ ' muckin' about wasn’t exactly pleasin' a few coworkers, so I pretty much lived with the canon.”

“Vitex Heiress?”

“Oh,” she realized she lead him there, “...yeaaaah” she let out in a long exhale. She tilted her head up a bit and futility blew some hair from her face. “Pete. Vitex. They had to come up with some way to cover me, my new existence where before I wasn’t. Not like Micks or Mum, couldn’t exactly just step into the universe's Rose's shoes. Wouldn’t quite be enough to have proof of yearly rabies shots an' groomin's but no school record.” Rose smiled a big, genuine smile. “Boarding school in Germany, apparently, uni in a few other places.” Rose shrugged a bit “Feels a bit ‘ _Eastenders_ ’ to me but it worked. I’m pretty sure Pete paid a few people to ask fewer questions, sayin' how I loved travelin’ to excuse any …absences.” He nodded, letting out a short hum of understanding. "Not like I hate havin' money. 'S fine. Mum loves it! Just hate that part, I guess. 'S silly. Still." She punctuated by putting her free hand on her lap quickly. "nuff about me… boring life, work, chips, telly.” She said, shaking her head dismissively, moving her right leg under her left as she turned to face him more. “What did you do since… you’ve seen me?”

“Welllll...” he drew out the word. “It was… stuff. Lots of stuff. Didn't deal with losing you very well, I must admit. Great big Time Lord brain and completely missed how my, well, for lack of a better word, sulking would effect others.” He pouted at his own use of the word, made worse that it accurately applied to him. “Met Agatha Christie! She was nice, brilliant! Very British. And Shakespeare! Though, I think he fancied me.”

“Shocker.” She deadpanned. He smirked.

“Saw old enemies, made new friends, met old friends…” he seemingly mused aloud and let out a breath.

“On your own?”

“Nah, I had a friend first, Martha. Martha Jones. Well, Doctor Martha Jones, now. Saved my life, I ruined hers in repayment.” He huffed. “I seem to do that.”

“The woman I met?” Rose asked, carefully not mentioning anything specific that happened a merely a few hours ago. He nodded. “She seemed nice, smart.”

“She is.”

“Must not ‘a ruined her life too much, then.” Rose shrugged him, almost dismissively again, maintaining eye contact. He opened his mouth to argue, but she spoke up again before he could. “Much easier to get all hard and cranky than stay a nice person. Have a ‘ruined life' an' people do what's easy,” she nudged him with her foot to make sure she had his attention. “Seen enough of that in the rest of the universe, you think you’d know the difference.”

He looked away and shook his head in thought, small smile betraying his face, “How do you do that?” he said a bit quietly.

“Do what?” she blinked, questioning as she looked directly back at him.

“Continually fix me.” He had a full smile on his face now. He placed a hand on her foot gently.

“You’re not broken, not really,” she said as nonchalantly as possible, shrugging and taking a pointed drink of her tea, “maybe a bit dented, bruised. Not broken that I can see.” She contorted her mouth in thought, maintaining eye contact with him as she sat up a bit better, coming incrementally closer to him as she put down her tea on the small table beside her. “’s like… you forget. You forget that we sign up for this. I mean, I can't talk for all of us, not even just the few I've met. But...” she paused a breath biting her bottom lip momentarily emphasizing her words with her hands as she spoke again.

“’s like you take us down a new street, yeah? Exotic, beautiful, new shops. An' I walk accross the street without looking an' get hit by a car. Whose fault is that? Mine. If I look, and I still get hit by a car, the driver is careless or psycho, ‘s the other person's fault. ‘S definitely not the person who took me to the street in the first place.” He stopped breathing for a moment and considered her words as her eyes grew to have a glassy quality. She reached over to put a hand over his. Her voice grew more emotional while she tried to hold it in. “an’ if I lose my bloody grip on a lever that I demanded to hold in the first place and get sucked into a parallel world--” she swallowed back tears, “--then it's _my_ fault. Not yours.” Her eyes looked away slightly, trying to steel her emotions, staring at the part of the sofa instead of him.

He flipped his hand beneath hers and took it gently, leaving the back of his hand against her foot. She closed her fingers in his a little tighter, still not looking at him. He looked at his empty mug of tea absently, rubbing her hand with his thumb as they sat in silence.

 


	4. Chips

 He woke up at a knock to the door. Blinking back the sleep in his eyes he heard the soft walk of someone opening the door and the savory smell of fried food. He rubbed his hand down his face, and laid it down by his head. It rested small patch of moisture in the pillow beside him and he opened and closed his surprisingly dry mouth, contorting it slightly in realization. The light had faded from the windows and they were covered in little translucent dots while a small patter of water on glass filled the room that was oddly settling until the realization set in: He had fallen asleep on the sofa. 

“You drool. Can’t say I was expecting that.” Rose said as she closed the front door, skillfully taking a bottle of brown liquid and two plates to the sofa table as the Doctor sat up.

“Yeah… sorry about that. Not sure what I was expecting,” The Doctor stretched as she placed the bottle down first, freeing that hand to get the precariously placed plate with a steaming bag nestled in a basket and putting it on the table. “one heart, creation, excitement…” he rambled, eyes linking with hers as he said it. She placed the other plate. “Didn't fully understand the enormity of the human tendency towards exhaustion.” He assessed his situation and stretched a bit more, trying to crack his now aching neck, “And now I woke up _sore_. How rubbish is that?!”

Rose smirked again, her face starting to heat from those muscles being used more in the last day than the few years before. “An’ now you’ll be hungry, because I’m not sure I can remember when even _I_ ate,” she said, kneeling to un-wrap paper from around the chips on one plate and letting out a puff of steam and smell before turning to do the same to what smelled like battered fish on the other, “an’, as I recall, a certain Time Lord often needs reminding.” She said, waggling a hot chip at him.

He leaned forward and quickly grabbed it with his mouth, smiling. She chuckled, deftly grabbing another chip and biting into it before straightening her knees slightly to plop unceremoniously onto the empty corner of sofa. She put the rest of her chip into her mouth and leaned forward to start shaking the bottle of vinegar onto a section on chips before picking another one. He reached for one after she did, chewing happily.

“Where were we?” she asked before ripping off a piece of the fish in front of her and blowing it to cool before popping it into her mouth.

“Torchwood, Vitex Heiress…” he said, hungrily aiming another chip at the ceiling and catching it in his mouth like a trained seal.

“I meant you, ya daft man. My life 's not much beyond what I already said. Didn’t intend for it to be permanent, covered the big bits. Not a whole lot of big bits in there anyway. Got Mum, Dad, Tony, had Mickey.” She said the last name on her list sadly. “Still. Gone now. Deserved better than me, anyway.”

He followed that statement with a rather undignified but not completely perceptible swallow, “Were you and he…?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, smirking again. “Mates. Just mates. Deserved better, better life. His Gran died, all peaceful an' 87. Lived with us at the mansion. She died, Mickey an’ me moved into a building not far from work that Dad bought before I got here. I s’pose Micks moved there more to keep an eye on me than the idea of leavin' the mansion and Dad's collection of vintage cars.” She laughed to herself, quickly eating another bit of fish, chewing thoughtfully, looking at the Doctor with a nudge “Less idiot, him.”

“Mickey-the-Previously-an-Idiot-but-Not-so-Much-Anymore,” he said almost to himself, “Bit wordy.” 

She smiled almost sadly. "Could just call him, Mickey, ya know." She elbowed him. The Doctor nodded, eating more, shaking the vinegar liberally on his battered fish, trying to phrase his next question.

She answered it without him asking, “Not with Jake, either, yeah?” learning over and elbowing him gently, “You’re more his type than me.” He grinned a bit as he chewed.

“Now,” she said, swallowing, “Nuff about me. We should figure out… you.”

He thought about this and punctuated with his own swallow. “Figure me out? I thought we've been over this? Pronouns, brains, heart—"

She almost laughed at him. “No, ‘s like… ok. You're him. Okay. Same man, same face… but ’s gunna take a bit of getting used to. Got used to the whole… regeneration thing, but what's this, then? I mean, I heard Donna, an’ I get it, I think, but.” She stopped, almost pensive, “like, he said you were dangerous, I’m not sure what I think--.”

It didn't take him long to consider that as he nodded. “Well, I am.” He paused, half for effect, half to run his tongue quickly and surreptitiously over his teeth with a closed mouth to help clear out the rough feeling of potato he still felt in his mouth “...But, to be fair, so's he. You met me-him-us. Not exactly a Paragon of safety even without the bit of human.”

She thought on his answer while munching the remaining few chips, not disagreeing, just trying to take in the information. She seemed to start opening her mouth to respond when a vibrating rhythm seemed to emanate from her pocket. She reached into it and looked at the screen before sighing. Looking at him for a second, she put the phone to her ear and stood, touching his shoulder softly before grabbing the barren plates and baskets as she answered and shoved the phone between her shoulder and ear.

“Hi, Mum.”  
Pause.  
“No, just talking. With _words_.” She rolled her eyes in a distinctly I'm-dealing-with-Jackie-Tyler manner as she piled the plates on one another into the sink of the kitchenette. “We just ate.”  
Talking.  
“Well how was I supposed to know?!”  
Loud talking.  
“Al _right_. Half hour. Dad an' Tony, Dinner. Fine.” She grunted and hung up the phone and walked back to the living space near him. 

“So, _more_ food, then?”

“You get to meet my brother, so, bright side, yeah?” She smiled, standing by him with the arm of the sofa between them. “Love that boy. I know I'm his sister, so I should. Didn't think I'd ever really have a brother, but honestly think I can't love that kid anymore than I do. Don't even like kids.” She grinned as she offered him her phone to show him the curly haired child set on her mobile's background as the screen lit up. “’s a bit stubborn, might take a bit to warm up to ya. But, he’s not even two, so—"

“A stubborn Tyler? No.” he said sarcastically, shaking his head in feigned disbelief as he handed back her phone.

“Oi!” she shoved his arm playfully. “That's my baby brother your on about!” Laughing a bit as she put her mobile back in her pocket and set on the arm of the sofa beside him.

“Little Tony, possibly the only trans-dimensional hybrid AND a Tyler?” He faux shuddered as she prepared to give him another playful shove. He grabbed her arm and swiftly pulled her over the edge of the sofa onto his lap and into a surprising hug. His eyes went to hers, not requesting to go any farther, but enjoying the small closeness of the moment.

Rose's eyes welled up almost immediately.

“You left me.” She broke in the instant, looking into his eyes as a few tears started falling down her face.

“I ... I did, yeah.” He swallowed, and nodded sadly, he couldn’t deny it. That may have been _him_ , but he understood, their thought processes were the same, or nearly, and the responsibility for the actions taken were on both their shoulders. “I also _wanted_ to stay.” Rose leaned on his chest and cried, his arms still encircling her, moving to stroke her hair gently.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head.  
“Not letting you wander off again.” He pressed his cheek to the top of the sobbing woman’s head.

When her crying slowed and her rational mind could re-assert itself, she pulled her head away and wiped her eyes. “Look at me,” she sniffed, sitting up running a finger under each eye. “Gettin' like some clingy ex-girlfriend on ya.”

He looked surprised at that. “Ex?”

“Well, we haven't really…”

“Did you not just hear me?” he said quietly, “Not. Letting you. Wander off. Again.” He nudged her nose with his and leaned in for a quick but passionate kiss.

She, apparently, did not agree with the ‘quick’ part and immediately went in for another. Still brief, but both of them immensely gratifying as they closed the pair of kisses with his forehead bowed to hers.

Eventually she stiffened, sliding off his lap to beside him, still far closer than she was when she was two feet away on the other end of the sofa. She still sniffled once as she seemed her emotional outburst though visibly much calmer.

“Now." She took a deep breath and steeled herself, most signs of the emotional outburst gone. She wiped beneath her eyes again for good measure. "Not joking, 's your turn to talk. You’re makin' me go on and on but I heard Donna and I know you, that gob has to go off. Come on, let it out." She leaned back on him, lifting her feet back on the unoccupied section of their seating. "Start with Martha.” She poked him as punctuation to the thought.

“Well… we have twenty minutes?” he said, arching an eyebrow in thought as he reached one arm to be draped behind her on the sofa as he skritched his sideburn with his other hand for a second. She leaned back on him, lifting her feet back on the unoccupied section of their seating.He slipped his arm down to hold her and not the sofa.

“Alright, plasma coils…”

 


	5. Nutloaf May Be More Appropriate

  Holding hands, Rose and the Doctor were lead past rows of empty tables into separated room on the edge of the dining room where Pete, Jackie, with a highchair containing a grey-eyed child and unruly blonde curls between them. Pete rose to hug his daughter and shake the Doctor’s hand. Jackie moved to do the same as little Tony grabbed a hold of her shirt, halting her progress and only allowing one armed half-hugs to be given to the newly arrived pair.

Tony was already climbing the ranks to the Doctor's second-favorite Tyler.

Rose leant down to kiss Tony's chubby toddler cheeks and muss his hair. “Hey, Buddy!” she said excitedly and hugged him as much as she could hug a two-year-old buckled to a highchair. “This is the Doctor,” she pointed to the man beside her. The Doctor tried to gently shake hands with a semi-balled-up toddler fist.

“Hello, Tony, good to meet you, little man!” he said as the child’s eyes left his sister for a moment, letting go of Jackie only to wave his arms while now-empty hands opened and closed.

“Up-up!” he demanded and motioned. Jackie sat down and broke up some bread sticks for him to chew on. He was distracted by the easily-crammable food as he began to eat greedily.

“'bout time you got here, started thinkin' we'd have to order without ya.” Jackie said, re-opening her menu before the two even sat down, picking up her glass of red wine and sipping as she perused her options.

The Doctor pulled out a chair for Rose on the other side of the table from her mother, helping guide it in as she sat. Rose flipped her arm and looked at her watch.

“We’re four minutes late, Mum.” Rose said, rolling her eyes toward the Doctor as he sat beside her and smiling.

“Yeah, because _talkin'_ makes you late.” Jackie said, pointedly, shooting a glance at the Doctor over her menu. “Know what you want?”

“I’ll just have more chips, yeah? They were bloody gorgeous.” Rose said, barely glancing at the menu.

" _Language_ , lady, little ears!" Jackie voice raised as pointed at Tony with her head. "And you, Doctor?"

“Me, too. Still a bit full from earlier.” The Doctor nodded, gently taking Rose’s hand under the table.

“Well goes to show, you went an' ruined your appetites! After Pete went through all the trouble –”

“Leave it, Jacks. Wasn’t trouble and would’ve done it anyway.” Said Pete, waving a hand gently at his wife while looking over his own menu.

“Bought out the restaurant again?” Rose said, eyebrow slightly raised but her voice flat.

“Couldn’t do for random pictures showin' up in _Parcels_ of a man with no identity hangin' round the Tylers.” Rose leaned in close to the Doctor for a moment and whispered, “'sa tabloid” as Pete continued, “You’d never hear the end of it, Doctor.”

A waitress came in and took their orders, filling their glasses with the red wine and pitcher of water kept at the edge on the table.

“So, Doctor,” Pete started when the waitress left, “Jackie's explained as much as she could, and I have to ask, what are you going to do here?”

“I, well. I haven’t thought about it much,” the Doctor and Rose spoke up at the same time “He’s been here for less than 4 hours, Dad.”

“Right right but we have to get a plan of attack, so to speak, especially if he intends to stick around—”

“--Which I do--” the Doctor interjected without hesitation and quickly squeezing Rose’s hand gently beneath the table.

“–then we'll need documentation.” Pete said, matter-of-factly.

“Mummy!” exclaimed little Tony, Jackie quickly buying quiet time with more bread sticks.

“John Smith.” He said, almost too quickly.

“Really?” Rose said, tilting her head and looking at him quizzically, “’s permanent.” Pete whipped out his phone and started typing things in.

“I’m always John Smith!” he half-whined, his pitch raising a bit in exclamation as he looked toward her. His voice returned to its former timber, “It’s easy to remember, anyway, and it blends in to the woodwork, which is good for documentation.”

“’Cause you’re _so_ _good_ at that otherwise,” she said cheekily, looking at him while she nibbled on a bread stick from the table with a big, genuine smile on her face.

“Oi!” he said, feigning hurt at her statement, snatching the bread stick away from her, “You’ll ruin your dinner.” He turned to Tony and gave it to him, earning a smile from the lad. “Here you are, little man.” She bumped the Doctor with her shoulder, not looking hurt at all.

“What about a birthday?” said Pete, not looking up from his mobile.

“27th of April, 1st of February, and 20th of November. Easy!” he said, happily pointing at Rose, Jackie, and Pete in turns. Happily attempting to deflect for a moment while he thinks things over.

“He meant yours, ya prawn.” Jackie said, rolling her eyes as she took another drink from her near-empty glass and breaking yet another stick for Tony.

“…They don’t do birthdays, Mum, plus, he’s like, 900-something. Not sure he’d remember.”

“How about today? Technically I guess I was came about today, we’ll make today my official birthday. And it’s not like there’s a temporal coordinate chronometer to base my _actual_ birthday on, and one date’s about as good as another I suppose.” He said, looking far too pleased with himself at the ease his decision was made.

“5 July. Year?” Pete's eyes gave him a once over, trying to place an age. “Saying sometime in the 1100s would be barmy,” he mumbled before raising his voice back to it’s normal volume. “I’ll make you thirty… five.” and he returned to entering information into his phone. “Place of birth?”

“Doncha think this is a little much? Give ‘im a day of down-time, ‘sall a bit fast, yeah?” Rose looked at her father seriously.

“Gotta get it done, Pet, may as well be now.” He didn't look up from his phone, but addressed the Doctor. “Place of birth?”

“Gallifrey,” he immediately answered and Rose piped in “Ireland.”

“Ireland. Right.” Pete looked warily over the two and returned his sights to the phone.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed a fraction at the enormity of what he was doing. Before he could have a proper mental fit over it the waitress came in, distracting him and disseminating their food with a bit more grace than Rose had earlier. Rose squeezed his hand under the table before letting go and reaching for her utensils, immediately setting aside and splitting a few chips for them to cool, Tony seeming to know they were for him and reaching for the just-out-of-reach too-hot chips as he repeated his sister’s name. Jackie started a bite into her seafood-laden pasta dish and gave Tony a few of her broccoli, blowing on it gently before the small child unceremoniously shoveled a piece that looked bigger than his little mouth into his face in attempt to eat it.

“Now.” Pete broke the silence between bites, “Parents?”

“John Smith and Donna Noble.” He said quickly, becoming a bit exasperated and filling his mouth with a chip to distract him from spouting off or having to answer another question immediately.

“Would you be a II or a junior, then?”

“Oi,” Jackie explained, swallowing her mouthful, “He’s got time for that! We got all the hard part, let him settle a bit!” The Doctor slowly swallowed his mouthful and turned his attention to drinking his water.

“Jacks, that’s hardly the hard part. I mean, think of what we had to do for you two when we showed up, only now there isn’t a national emergency to cover up any identity issues.”

“Oi, don’t complain. We have a Doctor, not the Doctor, mind, but one all the same! National emergencies are bound to pop up, now.” Jackie said to Pete flatly as she mitigated the small noises of Tony with more broccoli.

“Wait, wha'? No no, Mum, no. Stop right there.” Rose put her glass down and waved her hands a bit. “ _The_ Doctor. Not 'one'. You need to stop that thinkin' right now, yeah? Yes, there are two but not a one of them is _a_ , alright? I just had to… re-adjust my own thinkin' I don’t need you swannin' down that path.” Rose explained as calmly as possible.

The Doctor beamed at her, soaking in for nearly a full minute before he turned to Jackie.

Jackie, who was smirking.

“Good on you, love, _the_ Doctor prolly needed to hear that more ‘en me.” Both Rose’s and the Doctor’s jaws hung a bit in surprise, looking quickly toward one-another in almost cartoonish shock, Jackie linking hands with Pete as they smirked between one another like they were conspirators in some big caper. "Diff'rent an' the same, not that like we'd know anythin' 'bout that at all."

Rose put her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands, hiding a nagging smile. The Doctor rubbed her back in large circles with one hand, still beaming away, looking between her, Jackie and Pete with joy.

Tony stole some chips from the Doctor's plate with a well placed sneak and a “Docdah!”


	6. Like an Ordinary Person

  Rose carried her brother on her hip and her other hand occupied with the Doctor's. Her Mum and Dad ahead of them turning to a door down the hall from their own as they approached. Pete unlocked it as Jackie attempted to retrieve her son from the side of his sister.

“Alright, Night, Pet, I’m knakkered,” he said as he leaned toward his now toddler-free daughter and kissed her cheek which she quickly returned, “Tony’s been all energy today and we gave Lisa the day off.”

“Brave, you.” She said, bending to kiss her brother’s face with big squishing kisses. Pete held open the heavy door for his wife and son.

“I had Pete stop and get you some pyjamas, won't be very comfortable to sleep in the clothes your in,” she explained, getting a plastic bag from on top a small suitcase and handing it over to Rose while balancing Tony on her hip. “Zeppelin boards at 9:30 and leaves at 10. I expect to see ya down stairs and ready to check out by 8 so we can do breakfast downstairs. Now get to sleep. This week's already been hell on ya an' this next week's do to be no better.” Rose nodded to her Mum and began to walk off “And I wasn’t joking about both of those bedrooms gettin' used, we paid a premium for a good night's rest and you better get it!”

After Jackie closed the door Rose went to The other door and unlocked it, walking in and holding the door open for him to enter as she untied and kicked off her shoes. As he closed the door she had already moved to examine the plastic bag as she put it on the table and pulled out to clear plastic packages containing their night clothes; Bright pink and deep blue.

“’This weeks been hell and the next will be no better'?”

“Dad's started on your identity stuff. Dad's getting started, you just... have to keep a low profile. And you’re _great_ at that.” She smiled at him as she opened the clear plastic around her night clothes. “and,” she tossed a package of the blue at him, “you have to go shopping. Can't wear the same clothes every day anymore.”

He tore open the sealed package with his teeth, moving to sit down on the sofa as he inspects his new clothes. “Right.” He sighed a bit.

She joined him on the sofa, “I know, ‘s a lot. Would be… easier, on you, I mean, if you weren't,” she nodded, ignoring the rising bike as she admitted his easy escape, "if you weren't around _me_ , you could run off and go do what ya want."

He raised an eyebrow and turned to her, “What?”

She gestured around, “ _Vitex_ _Heiress_ ,” was her only answer.

He let out a laugh. “Yes, because I would let _that_ be a consideration in what I do or who I spend time with.”

“Jus’ sayin'” she shrugged. “would have more time to acclimate.”

“I'm still _mostly_ Time Lord, Rose. Time may have the advantage at the moment but _I’m_ it’s boss.” He said triumphantly, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Not this week,” she bumped him a little, “You’re on extended vacation from bossing. Ident, clothes, job, place to live,” she counted off on her fingers, “faster we do them, less likelyhood of bad.”

“So we do it. I've got a head start with your Dad, ident mostly sorted. Shopping,” he groaned, “I can do it I just refuse to let your mother use me as a doll. Job… I guess I'll need one of those. I guess, Medical doctor? May be too backward. Not a dentist, either, though I am a fan of teeth. No, it's a form of sadism on several planets and I'm pretty sure that includes this one. Research laboratory? I may not be in the right universe but I can still figure things out pretty fast.”

“Dad will try to help with that, too. I'm sure he's going to ask if you want to work at Torchwood. There is no way I should be one of the only people with any knowledge of inter-dimensional transport mechanics on his payroll.”

“Inter-dimensional transport mechanics?” he smirked at her incredulously.

“Nearly three years, remember? Reading. _A_ _lot_.” She bumped him with her shoulder again. “Barely know the basics. Just a whole lot of fancy words that impress the neighbors.” She leaned in on him as they relaxed back on the sofa, each letting their jim-jams sit on their laps.

“I don’t know about Torchwood,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “Protocols and paperwork?” He exhaled exaggeratedly to express his displeasure at the concept.

“Pretty sure that those everywhere when you don't work in a shop.”

“I like a little shop, could work in a little shop!” He smiled, “Maybe books. I could work with books? I like books!”

She tilted her head up to look into his face, “You’d buy all the books,” she said through a smile.

He didn't disagree. “Yeah, probably would.” He nodded, thinking as he looked into space. “I could teach? Liked being a teacher, being a teacher was good.”

“'I'm _not_ going to be a dinner lady,” she joked and put on a shudder.

“Oh, a writer! Donna was an excellent typist. One hundred words per minute. I could be a writer. Could just write about our old universe and call it fiction, might still exist here but a little altered. Though, that might change the future. No, can't do that. Maybe just Earth, then. Oh! Or maybe a travel writer! Go around the world, learning stuff, meet the natives, eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double, then write about it!”

She nodded along his ramble, “could do.”

“Research, book shop, teacher, writer, travel-writer…”

“Too many options?” she looked up at him again momentarily. “You have a bit of lee-way with a job, I suppose,” she idly fiddled with the pink fabric on her lap. “Can do all of ‘em if you want to. Though not at the same time. Pretty sure you'll go 'round the bend.”

“Then there's a place to live. Carpets, windows treatments, doors…” he groaned and put his bed back on the sofa.

“Carpets and window treatments are negotiable. Can't avoid doors, though. Even had doors on the TARDIS, don't know why that's such a deterrent.”

“I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, those doors keep thing _out_ , most doors keep things _in_. It's an important distinction.”

“Think maybe it's a point of perspective. _Home_ doors keep things out, _prison_ doors keep things in. You’ve just had centuries of calling the TARDIS home, not everything else is a prison."  She grinned and looked at him, "...But most things outside the TARDIS aren't prison unless you're you and manage to get arrested for _throwing pears."_

"That happened _once_ , just that once!"  He smiled from his reclined spot before he raised his head  to look at her, raising an eyebrow, “And hen did you get all introspective?”

She laughed, “Didn’t really. I’ve only got two years of calling the TARDIS home and the three years after made _a_ _lot_ of people say a lot of things about how my thoughts work,” she shrugged, “Guessing it applies to you a bit, too.”

They were lost in thought for a bit, quietly sitting in silence.

“I think I've sorted your place to live, at least temporarily,” she sat up properly and leaned toward her lap. “but it's up to you.”

“I think I trust you not to throw me in a pit of snakes or a mental institution.”

“Don't be so sure,” she chuckled, “I was gonna say Mickey’s.” He turned to her with a grimace as she laughed and pumped his leg with hers. “'sa building by the Mansion. Double with mine. You'd have your own space, easy explained if people find out, my mate moved and I got a new neighbor. Simple, not a whole lot of that runnin' about. ... _And_ you can tear out the carpets."

He nodded, a little smile playing on his face from her remark, “True.” He scratched his sideburn again. “And," he paused, waggling his head to the side a bit, "you can't wander off if I know where you are.”

“Oh, how times change. I think you might be severely underestimating my wandering off skills.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to change all the chapter names. They're making me unhappy.


	7. Sleep Half Your Lives Away

  The light from the windows wasn't bright, but even it's slight light was making quite a change from the previous pitch black of the Doctor's room. It was waking him slowly. He blinked a few times, trying to fight the sleep that had settled in so soundly. It wasn't yet morning, but he dug the balls of his palms into his tightly shut eyes. He put his arms down, blinking at the ceiling and turning slightly to try and focus on the radio that Rose had turned on to help him sleep. It wasn't as melodic as the him off the TARDIS, but it did the trick after a while and he managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Blinking again, regaining some of that focus, he saw a pink hue beyond his radio, and there, in the arm chair by his side table, laid a pink-and-yellow human curled up, asleep. Her whole body rested a bit to the side, head using the back rest as her knees were pulled up and her feet by her bum. Rose wore the pink night clothes her father bought her, contrasting greatly with the neutral, professional colors of the hotel room. He slid his legs over and sat up quietly before scooting off to stand. He took the there steps to her that was necessary before skipping a hand under the crop of her knees and the other behind her back, lifting carefully. He said her down on the bed like he had any time she fell asleep on the jump seat or in the library. It took considerably more concentration and strength to do it as gracefully as he had before but he managed and she didn't wake. Her pulled the duvet over her before walking to the other side of the bed and sleeping on top of the covers. The Doctor blinked his eyes again, linking his fingers together as he laid then on his abdomen, then slowly closed his eyes. He fell back to sleep.

When she woke, Rose quickly realized she was snuggled up to the Doctor. He was lying on his back with her head and a single arm on his chest. Something warm was under her neck and holding her close –his arm. She gazed at what she could see without moving, frozen in surprise and deathly afraid of it’s ending. There was blanket over her and under him was slightly bunching between them. His clothes were adorably rumbled, wrinkles setting in to the blue night set and pale sliver of slightly freckled skin showing where his shirt slipped up a few inches in his sleep. She lifted her head slowly, making sure to move as little as possible and not disturb him, to look at his sleeping face. His eyes were closed softly, his breathing strong and slow… peaceful, really-- not a look he sported much but not entirely unseen or unwelcomed. She only looked at him for a moment more, studying his features, before slowly and softly laying her head back down in the same place it was before and listening to the odd but familiar rhythm of his single beating heart.

“Just because my eyes are closed doesn't mean I'm sleeping.” He said, gruffly in a disused morning voice with his eyes still closed. She didn't budge from her comfortable position on his chest.

“Really? Could have fooled me.” She held her head as still as possible. “You still drool.”

“You snore.” His eyes still closed.

“Oi, do not,” she said only slight and forced indigence in her voice.

“Like an angry Swook. Big red things with fangs and tusks and they'd be scared of those noises.” He muttered. She gently thwapped his chest where her hand lie on it.

“Rude.”

“and not ginger.” He replied quickly as he opened one of his eyes and looked down at her, only to see that she was looking up at him. He rubbed her back with the hand wrapped around her. “You were asleep in that chair,” the Doctor opened the other eye and nodded a little in the direction of the armchair by the radio. “I thought you'd get a better night’s rest in a bed. Wasn’t really planning the cuddle.” She pulled herself to turn to see where he was gesturing, her hand leaving it’s place on his chest when she turned.

“You were making noises,” she said as if the sight of the chair had reminded her. Rose turned back toward him, propping her self up on her other arm. “Stopped when I came in, so I stayed. Didn't think I woke you.”

“You didn't,” he said matter-of-factly. Rose pushed herself up before looking at the clock and sucking her knees in by her chest.

“We should get dressed.” She said putting a cheek on her knee as she looked over to him. “Just time for a couple of showers and a cuppa before our four-hour doom-balloon ride to London.” He let out a noise of unhappiness at having to get up as he did his hands into his eyes again. She almost laughed and removed her head from her knees to look down towards his face. “Tea and showers fix most mornings for the rest of us feeble apes, you'll be fine,” she gently dropped a hand to his hair and stroked it once, before realizing the sheer domesticity of the moment and stopped. She moved her hand in as non-jerky and quick motion as she could, stretching it her legs and getting off of the bed. She stood, unnecessarily straightening her bedshirt and tapping the radio so the quiet static shut off. “I'll make the tea, you do a quick wash. I'll see ya in twenty.” She left the room.

As soon as she was gone he lifted a pillow by his now Rose-free hand and squashed it onto his face in frustration for a few seconds.

Too much unsaid. Both ways. It was awkward, he could feel it. Little human lives. His previous 900 years didn't factor in as much as the fact that not he knew he had only a definitive time left. Interactions counted more, the hours and days ticked into as percentages into his head, ifs and what-fors and how’s seemed to factor much larger with a limited life span. Or maybe it was Donna. She handled those questions better. Donna in his head, Donna telling him not to be a dumbo.  
_Donna_. And now the world of human distractions amounted to more to him; he hadn’t realized as quickly what would likely—no, not likely, he knew himself— _eventually_ happen or happened already. His best friend.

He growled beneath his pillow before tossing it him and forcing himself up and off the bed.

Leaving the room, he saw Rose in the kitchen, staring intensely at the heating kettle, unearthly still. _Too much unsaid_ , his mind repeated. _She fell through a hole in the world and ripped though the impossible just to come back._ Talking. He'd have to start talking. _Really_ talking.

  
_Great big, outer-space dunce._

  
He sighed and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels short, but I was busy.  
> Don't like sad much. I think the sad's pretty much over now, though.


	8. Could Be a Little More Sonic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess what I have? POCKETS!

He re-dressed in his old clothes as the shower rained on in the bath once again giving Rose her turn. The Doctor noticed some travel-sized men’s antiperspirant on the table in his room and frowned a bit at the hint. Then he noticed things like a toothbrush and comb next to it, relaxing slightly in realization it was likely just a hygiene pack or something from the lobby. He put the antiperspirant to use before shaking out and sliding on his shirt and trousers.

_Trousers_.

Grabbing his jacket, realized something with not a small amount of glee and jumped a bit in the joy of his revelation. He started going through his pockets.

The shower had shut off long before he was done sorting out the piles of stuff he has retrieved from his pockets. Rose leaned in, fully dressed and ready for the day with stringy wet hair in a twist around her neck.

Three bananas laid in a pile, what looked like an old radio, a red racket ball and white racket, a stethoscope like a medical doctor would have, several pads of paper and pens, a quite a few metallic alien-looking bits and pieces of machinery.

“Where'd all this come from?!” she asked, wandering into the room and motioning to the assortment of items spread out on the bed.

“Pockets! My pockets! I forgot about pockets!” he shot up and in his glee laid a big smack on Rose's lips. “ _Pockets_ , Rose, oh I _love_ pockets!”

She was a bit shocked at the random display of affection, or maybe the sheer size of the pile of objects, but looked excited none the less. “This is… a _lot_ of stuff!”

“Big pockets!” he said, smiling wider than she'd seen since before the beach. He jumped a bit, motioning to all the things on the bed. “Rose, Rose! I almost have enough for a sonic screwdriver, well, suppose it would have been better if there was a sonic screwdriver in the to begin with—well, that's probably in the other blue suit but look!” he animatedly pointed to one of the unidentifiable metal shapes, “That is a Thoma cordite medical transmitter, that has around 46.66 recurring parts I need for a rudimentary screwdriver all by itself! Isn’t that brilliant?!”

“’S any of this stuff dangerous?” she asked, reaching out a picking up a banana with an eyebrow raised at him. He picked up the ball and racket from the bed.

“Nah, not harmful unless you’re a Dalek, Sontaran, or made of translucent goo,” he said, bouncing the little red ball on the racket, “though I am starting to wonder if I have a kleptomania problem and if I have all this stuff and I’m almost sure I put some of this down at the time. Most of it, in fact. But even if that’s true I’m a little happy I have a hidden mental condition.” He smiled and bounced the ball almost to the ceiling before catching it and putting both the objects back on the bed.

Rose dropped the banana and took a brisk walk over to an object on the other side of the bed. She picked it up quickly but carefully, “You had an ATMOS device in there?!” she waved it in an accusatory manner before quickly realizing what she was doing and treating it tenderly. “Aren't these the things that suffocated everyone?!"

He blinked. "How did you know that?”

She kept her eyes directly on the object as she flipped it over slowly in her hands “Donna,” was all she said by way of explanation, not wavering her gaze from the object in question.

“Wellllll technically it’s not dangerous until activated or I run a sonic screwdriver over it and activate that way it but now I know how to disable it once I do should I have said screwdriver—”

“Ok, I get it,” she started putting it down as gently as possible as if afraid to trigger it regardless of what he said. Rose seemingly only let herself get excited after it left her fingers. She made a gesture to ask the stuff on the bed, “This is…” she couldn't even finish her sentence before stiffening her spine, bending her arms, and bouncing with a squeal of joy. He laughed along with her as they closed the distance between each other, both jumping for joy before they wrapped their arms around each other, still jumping on the balls of their feet. He lifted her up and swung her around in celebration. They fell in sync like they always had, delightedly exclaiming at the same time:

“ _A Sonic Screwdriver_!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, this has been bugging me a while (which lead to the thought of his pockets and thus this chapter):
> 
> **Spoilers for silence in the library/forest of the dead/everything River-related**
> 
> Ten wears the blue suit in the library.  
> River's mind is left in the screwdriver. Ten dumps her memory into the data core.  
> They don't show him putting it down. They jump cut. It's never seen or mentioned.  
> Ten obviously has more than one blue suit (Waters of Mars is the last time we see it and that's after Tentoo's existence) so, IF he kept it there's a 50% chance River's screwdriver is in Tentoo's pocket.
> 
> ...but I avoided THAT theory because I made my own head hurt.


	9. Up There With the Tops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zepplin from Bergen to London.

  “Not really a fan of flying above the city. Had a bad experience recently.” He said, climbing the stairs behind her to board the large, grey behemoth. The size was far too big for just the five of them. There was a loud hum, like an engine, as they got closer to the balloon.

“That's sayin’ something. I'm pretty sure you've had a bad experience with lots of things and that doesn't usually stop you.” She said from in front of him, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the engines.

“Yeah, well. Bad memories. That’s all they are. Adding in the idea of the Hindenburg it can't really be helped, can it?” He quipped as she walked through the entrance to the large seating area of the zeppelin. In the cabin sat five dozen seats in three rows of two, spread out like an airplane.

“Didn't happen here,” she shook her head quickly, “Hindenburg, I mean” The Doctor rounded up beside her in the entrance. “No idea what's different, never studied the Hindenburg much at home, since it just wasn't a big thing here it didn't get reported on much for me to know what's different if I did. Just don't sit near the viewing seats and concentrate on something else. Works for me.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the less desirable seats she’d grown used to, the center row, that were just enough away from windows that you couldn’t see the cities below, only the large telly on the wall in front of them and the light and sky from windows.

"Seems a bit big." He said, looking around at the expansive cabin.

"Mum hates the smaller one. I do, too, really, but," she punctuated with a small, one-armed shrug and didn't really finish her thought. She picked one of the many unoccupied seats and slid into it. “Still your turn.” She reminded him, sitting down and patting the seat back beside her.

“No it’s not! It’s your turn.” He said as he dropped into the seat she indicated.

“I told you Torchwood, Heiress, AND brother, you just told me about the hospital---”

“And I explained the split and, well,” he flailed his hands a bit “ _feelings_ , so based on that were even and it’s your turn again.”

“If you’re going to be like that then I started with…” Rose said, obviously mocking his hand movements and tone “’ _feelings_ ’ so it’s four-three.”

“Told you about the screwdriver!”

“I walked in on the screwdriver! Your. Turn!” she admonished and poked him slightly.

He sighed. “Already did the hospital… Shakespeare?” Rose shook her head. “Alright, Shakespeare and the Carrionites, then.”

“Carrionites?”

“Well, creatures from the Dark Time. Very old, all verbal energy. The best way to explain is that they're sort of, well, witch-like beings--”

She bawked, interrupting him with a laugh. “Ghosts with Dickens, witches with Shakespeare, what you have with Agatha Christie, then? Murder mystery?!”

His hand immediately went to the back of his neck and rubbed as he looked at the ceiling, “Well…”

“Oh, God, you did!” she laughed harder “You’re _so_ predictable!”

“Oi, I am not!”

“You so are!” she said, smiling to herself and rolling her eyes a bit.

He quickly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He returned to his seat and put his arms behind his head for faux relaxation.

“… _completely_ saw that coming.” She lied, covering her shock by smiling widely. He grumbled minorly for a second as he put his arms down attempted to settle in his seat.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, his body jumping slightly as he remembered a detail, “and they to use you against me! Or your memory. Right after! I was still reeling!”

“Oof, not a good plan.” She cringed slightly, still a cheeky smile on her face that she couldn’t remove.

He started to scratch a sideburn with one finger “— _and_ they killed people _and_ tried to kill Martha _and_ tried to take over 1600s England—" he admitted. She nodded understanding those were far worse offenses.

“Trapped 'em, then?” Rose leaned back in her seat.

“I…” he almost continued before her words registered, “How on Earth did you know I did that?!” he looked shocked at her, his mouth not quite closing. She let out a loud genuine laugh.

“You don’t kill ‘nless you have to,” she said. His mouth stayed open but twisted a bit as he was ready to argue but finding very little metaphorical ground to stand on. Rose tilted her head side to side with each word, “Trap, banish, re-locate..." The Doctor tried again to say something but quickly closed it. Rose scrunched her nose for a second as she spoke, "See? A _little_ predictable.”

“Oi! You keep knowing things! All observant and deciphering. It’s very frustrating,” he teased, pretending to be upset but he was too gratified for her correct predictions and mirth to pull it off well.

"That's why I'm here." She pulled a brilliant smile, “The domestic approach.”

He almost kissed her again for that smile.

Jackie Tyler got up from her seat in the back by her husband and child —they probably wouldn't have even known she was there if she hadn’t— and made her way through the empty cabin toward them with heavy steps.

She looked between the two with a stern face and spoke in semi-hushed tones. “Okay you two, Tony is distracted with a video player an' by the grace of God he'll be asleep before this flight is over. If, at any point, you decide to accidentally snap him out of it I'll be having you for Sunday dinner an' I don’t mean invited. Is that clear?” They both sucked in their laughter like school children as he saluted an affirmative to the woman and Rose nodded trying not to burst into a fit of giggles. Jackie rolled her eyes and walked back to her seat.

“Okay,” the Doctor looked back at her, calming as he spoke in a quieter volume, both of them settling in for the story. The balloon's tethers were audibly rolled up and the ascent had begun with a muffled whir of propellers. Rose leaned on his arm, head on his shoulder as she prepared to listen. “For Martha’s first trip I took her to London in 1599…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, obviously, have kids.  
> I commiserate with Jackie Tyler. Do -NOT- undistract a happily distracted toddler. I am not against feeding relatives to my dog.


	10. In Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a Long Zeppelin Ride.

  Rose leaned to the side, sitting with her back against both the back on the chair and a slightly turned Doctor as they managed closeness in their seats. She flipped a magazine in her hands, folding the read pages behind the other ones, the Doctor reading his as it sat open on his lap.

“Well that’s just insane. She should not be _that_ old and look that good in a bikini.”

“Says the 900 year old alien walking around as the 35-year-old John Smith,” she said, not even looking up as she smirked and continued to read.

“Well that at least would explain a lot. Maybe she shot to the 52nd century to get a quick tuck. We should find out what mode of transport she uses, we might want one.” He smirked and bobbed his head at her as she turned to nudge him.

Pete sauntered over, phone in hand, evident questions on his face. He sat down in the seat behind his daughter and leaned forward as Rose and the Doctor both turned to face him better.

“It occurred to me, is there a specific field you want to go in as a job? There’s less I have to start with if you’re just an eccentric artist or musician or even just a nutter and we call you ‘Doctor’ –'course we just switch to ‘John’ or should I start you on an advanced degree?”

“Well he might not be an artist or a musician.” Rose said, looking at the Doctor. He took mock offense and raised his hand to his chest. “But Dad's right, Doctor. Normal people don’t just go on calling people professions that aren’t their own.” The Doctor nodded his head a bit.

“I suppose either would help if I went into research. Maybe both, I suppose. MD and PHD? I can be Doctor Professor! Or even Professor Doctor! Oh, I like that, Professor Doc—"

Rose cut him off his run away train of excitement, "‘snot psychic paper, Doctor, he actually has to do work and exploit loopholes and do research and things”

“Hm. Well. I guess which ever is easier, then. I should think I’ll be able to get the other of whatever you can get me on my own if I decide to need it."

“PHDs are easy enough to acquire through tests, comparitively,anyway _._  Though _, Professor_ , I’m not guaranteeing a teaching position to necessitate the title change,” Pete said with a smirk while typing things into his phone again.

“Oh, I’m used to it. Went by Professor long ago. Looking ago. Long, long, loooong ago. Different man, different times.”

“I think he gets it, Doctor.” She stemmed further babble by placing an arm on his shoulder, to the grateful glance of her father.

“Well, as to your question… sciences? Maybe? I like science, I’m good at science.”

“You sure? might be different here, might be something you don’t know.” She grinned and bumped him.

“I hope so! Always something you can learn. But as for a big difference… nah. Laws are universal, or even pan universal apparently. The fact there is a parallel Earth means there _has_ to be parallels physics and astronomy unless that would be the difference and parallel Earth and parallel people made of gas or goo. Theoretically there could infinite are parallel worlds on that basis –even though there really aren’t, it would make sense that only one parallel would have anything different and a million in the same vein, there are too many variables like 4 million parallel universe with Earths-with-yeses-instead-of-nos but only one Earth-with-no-chocolate.”

Pete leaned over to his daughter, “Does he always explain things at a million miles an hour?”

“Yeah, just jump on a sentence an' hold on for life.” Rose sympathetically smiled pat her father's shoulder twice and turned her attention back to the Doctor, who hadn’t even paused.

“Every decision changed it may have changed another and so on, it could have been one no where there would have been a yes in the 1200s and everything altered around it –like ripples getting bigger. One little yes turns into a bigger yes and more yeses or nos until it causes a major influence or change, then it’s a fixed point."

She blinked, stopping him momentarily, trying to keep up, “What? Fixed point, like, Reapers?”

“Yes and no,” he seemed to get a little bit more animated when he explained it, sitting up straighter, using a few more hand gestures as he spoke towards father and daughter, “it _became_ a fixed point because it was in the past and effected the future. If we were take your Dad and go back and turn a no into a yes that it directly impacted him then maybe there would be Reapers because it would change his personal past.”

“So… its like… an alternate like _Back_ _to_ _the_ _Future_ , but not?”

He smiled widely, “Oh, Rose Tyler, I am a _horrible_ influence on you. --But it's no and yes. I haven’t put my finger on the why’s or how’s but that seems the most likely explanation.”

“So… we even could have created it? We’ve changed things in the past before, like Charles Dickens' new lease on life so maybe he’s not such a sad sod and says yes where he’d say no?”

“ _Language!_ ” Jackie hissed over a sleeping toddler from a few seats back.

“Yes, well, no. Sort of? Everything we did we did in the other universe, it would have effected the other universe, like changing Satellite Five and it doesn’t lean up properly, turns into GameStation, and then there's a Badwolf. Most of the time the things we changed were small and the universe compensated around it, like Mr. Charlie-boy not being a ‘sad sod’ or a random home burning down in Cardiff 1869."

“Oi!! _Language!_ ” Jackie hissed again a bit louder than before, stirring the toddler. She started hushing sweetly while giving the others a stare that would send a Sontaran fleet to retreat.

The Doctor got a bit quieter, mostly unperturbed by the interjection, “This place seems predicated on the assumption –and I'm spit-balling, really—that IF we went to GameStation there’s at least a higher likely hood they’d have fixed what needed fixing and become the 4th great and bountiful empire instead of a murderous building of reality shows, which means no Daleks, no me leaving you so no BadWolfyness, and you and Leather-and-Big-Ears would continue travelling the universe.”

Rose angrily nudged the Doctor a little at the 'Leather-and-Big-Ears' comment but said nothing given she knew he would probably referred to this one as ‘Pretty Boy' in an unflattering way.

“The universal constants seem the same, matter composition, air particles, gravity –I’ll peruse a periodic table and make sure the weights and atoms are the same as those of your time know bit but everything _appears_ to be the same astronomical make up, matter's made up of the same elements, same grass, same genetic construction...”

"Wait," Rose shook her head in realization, putting a hand out toward him, stopping him from finding a tangent to go off on. “So all this explaining is really just because you didn’t want to just go out and _say_ astro-physics, then?”

"Um." He swallowed and scratched a sideburn, looking up at the ceiling of their compartment and back down to her, "well, yeah, astro-physics."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only have two or three more of these planned out before I move on to a different day!  
> Goodness knows if my time and motivation will keep up to the level they've been.


	11. On the Motorway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Drive

 Rose lead him down the tarmac to a small line of waiting cars. She stopped by a boxy blue car, hitting a button on her key fob and hearing the door pop unlocked. The Doctor looked the car over and grinned. “Hey! Look at that!” he exclaimed at the sight of her car. He tilted his head slightly toward her, “Is it bigger on the inside?”

Rose grinned back, shaking her head at him and blushing faintly. “Shut up.” She opened his door and crossed to the other side to the driver's seat. They closed the doors almost in tandem before Rose reached over his knees, opening the glove box and grabbing her pair of black sunglasses. She reached in again and produced an extra pair to offer him. They put them on in almost synchronized movements as she started the car.

“Not bigger on the inside, but still… nice.” he said, looking around the confined space as she craned her back to see out the rear window more clearly. She backed out and turned, smoothly driving forward again.

“Birthday present from Mum and Dad. ‘sa good car.” She slowed behind another car stopped at a light. “Does the job, looks a bit posh.” She pat the wheel gently.

“The _CAR_ -DIS” the Doctor smirked and thought quickly. “Carries A Rose Distances In Style.” He announced, pride evident on his face. She let out a loud groan tinged with laughter.

“Oh my god, I can’t _believe_ you just said that.” Rose laughed under her breath, shaking her head lightly as she drove on. He shrugged.

“Talent,” He audibly sniffed, all-too-pleased with himself and brushed a lapel with his hand. “Some people got it.”

“Yeah, glad you have one,” she said sarcastically. He hummed in agreement, not letting her tone be acknowledged or temper his excitement over his bad joke.

“So, where to, first?”

“Shops, clothes for you. I know of one or two smaller shops that won't bother us too much but have loads of stuff. Or we can go get you measured if you want, so you can get suits an' stuff, or we can just go off-the-shelf. ‘S easier, but seeing as you had TARDIS-tailored stuff before, I figured it might be, I dunno, a bit more of a transition.” She shrugged, turning the wheel.

He scratched a sideburn, “Either, I guess.” He huffed out a big breath. “I’m really going to owe Jackie and Pete an arm and a leg…” he wiggled the fingers of his hand, “…and I’m probably never going to say that without an air of seriousness again.”

She laughed. “Nah,” she shook her head gently while keeping her eyes on the road, “‘sall coming from me. Saved up money workin' for and living with my parents as long as I did. Never touched it. May as well put it to good use.”

“You don’t have to do that,” his tone all seriousness.

“No reason not to.” Her voice paused and smile fell, she turned her head to look at him quickly. “’snot unlimited or anything. Just helps. Bit worried ‘sall gonna feel like we’re throwing ya in the deep end. Don't want you to drown.”

“Why would you worry about that?”

Rose took a deep breath, and let it out with a harsh breath through her lips. “’sall new to you, Doctor, and it’s a lot. No TARDIS, no screwdriver. Addin' in a li’l bit of Donna, removing a heart, little bit of human and a new universe...” her voice slightly teased before turning back to seriousness, “Nothin’ you don’t know, but ‘s not easy. Lots of decisions forced on ya, an' I know you’re not happy when decisions are forced on you. Trust me, I can relate _just_ a _bit_.”

Neither said anything for a minute.

“Don't get me wrong, Doctor,” a solitary finger lifting from her hand while it was still on the wheel, pointing in vaguely his direction as she kept her face forward to drive, “I fully intend to go at least a li'l mental later. We can dive into the whole... ‘ _feelings_ ’ thing later. Tryin’ not to now.” The rogue finger returned to formation with the others. “Failin’ a bit.” She turned to face him for a second, “Sorry.” Then looked back at the road.

He looked ahead to the streets. “I will make a new screwdriver. And then there’s very little stopping me. Just a few more things that I need. And the Donna thing, well, you'll have to deal with that more than me, not sure I'll notice as much. And human! Okay, so sleeping isn’t _as_ bad as I thought, I seem to be enjoying sleep more than I should or at least doing it regardless. The waking up bit that seems to be complete rubbish. I might be able to train myself to handle less sleep but I likely can't go down to my usual amount without severe mental side effects, and I like my mind, I enjoy my mind, I'm very attached to my mind, I prefer it stays how it is.”

He expected a laugh or a sigh or a topic change but she didn't seem distracted by his ramble.

“But no, No TARDIS.” He agreed, sadness tinting his voice. He tried to recover, returning to his bouncing cadence, “and that’s… not pleasant. But, as you said, new universe, different facts—new adventure! Might not be bad, just, I don't know, different. New new Adventure,” he paused, “In the CARDIS! Not the TARDIS, but better than nothing.” He smiled, his voice tinted with amusement, “plus, mental you… well, not something I can say I haven't seen before but _definitely_ something to look forward to.”

“Oi!”  
 


	12. What's Wrong With Blue?!

Rose sat on a chair, legs crossed, phone in hand, as she read through some articles sent to her by a co-worker on the concept of sentience in certain plants.

“I kinda hate this,” came a male voice from with in the dressing rooms across from her. She could only see the sock-clad feet of the Doctor under the off-white doors.

“Then don't get it,” she replied, not looking up from her article until the door creaked open. The Doctor poked his head out.

“Don't you want to see?”

“If you hate it, why should I see it? I trust you that if you hate it, you hate it and aren't just being a prat to make a point.” Rose shrugged and returned to her article. He went back inside and closed the door.

“Oi, language!” he called out. More shuffling.  
She giggled a bit.

“ _Why_? _Why_ are there no pockets?!” he grumbled, probably not expecting it to be audible. Shuffling. His feet rarely stopped moving.

“If I find an outfit, do you think we could stop for the day?” He called from the room.

“Depends.”

“On?”

“On if you want my Mum to just go out and get you clothes. All reindeer jumpers, tracksuits and sequins,” she teased, knowing that would get him.

He groaned. Yep. Got him.

Best as she could, she waited. Changing multiple articles, she got to some peer-reviewed article about time being a theoretical construct before getting a headache. He started shuffling around, easily pulling her waning attention in the subject on her screen. She smirked seeing his feet do a hop-around as he took off trousers to try on new ones. His socked toes wiggled when they maintained their stance. “Found something, have you?”

“Oi, stop staring at my feet! They're telling you my secrets and I can't have that.” He sounded amused, but muffled, before the feet took another new stance.

Toes wiggled.

“New shirt?” She raised an eyebrow even though he wouldn't see it.

“I said stop it!” he answered, making her lock her phone and uncross her legs. She put her elbows on her knees.

“Like it, then?”

“I don't hate it.”

“Best reaction so far! Do you want to stick it on the pile now or aren't you done preening?” she said with a smile. She heard the door unlock and out he came.

Blue denims wrapped his legs, light blue tab-collared shirt under a TARDIS blue sport coat. It made her blink. He looked… nice. Attractive.

“Decent?”

“Um,” she stopped. _Words,_ Rose, _words_ _would_ _be_ _good_ , “’sa load a blue.”

“What's wrong with blue?!”

“Nothing. The whole thing. ‘S nice. I like it. It's good.” She turned away to keep from staring, picked up her purse as a distraction and faced away from him as she pretended to look through it.

“So… I should get it?” he stepped in front of a mirror and looked himself over. Frustrated, Rose put her bag down and picked up a few more of the clothes for him to try on that she was keeping near by and turned. She caught the sight of him again.

Her look of admiration was apparently caught by the Doctor and changed from that admiration to shock then to embarrassment quickly. He was smirking at her, making eye contact through the mirror. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels, all smiles.

She swiftly shoved the clothes at him, “ _Yes_ ,” she said, speaking fast and rolling her eyes at both of their immense stupidity at the moment, “very attractive. Though, I'm pretty sure you'd still be good lookin' even wearin’ clown shoes or a vegetable on your chest. Now shift.” She opened the door to his dressing room and ushered him back in before closing the door behind him and turning around in a huff.

He watched her for a second as the door bounced open a bit with the force of her closure, laughing to himself as he watched her shake herself as she walked the chair then closing and latching the door.

She touched her cheek to cool it, flipping her hand, hoping to wick away the heat from her slight blush of embarrassment. “ _Years_ _apart_ and _you still turn me into a bleedin' teenager_ ,” Rose barely said in a quiet breath to herself before she picked up her purse again, turned around and collapsed into the seat. “We should go to Tesco’s after,” she said a little louder, “I’ve nothing but tea and biscuits at home and I doubt Mick’s had anything but beer an' pickles, we’ll need actual food in the kitchens.”

“Aw, can’t we do that tomorrow?” he half-whined. “I still have a pocket banana.” He added, not really wanting to continue shopping. He heard a _“Ha!”_ from her and then realized:

 _Pocket_ _banana_.  
The Doctor’s turn to blush, apparently.

He shook his vocal blunder off as he hopped around again. Getting out of these and into those, three more pairs of trousers before he found another pair he could stand. He looked at them in the mirror.

“Found more?”

“ _Stop_ looking at my feet!” He said, kicking toward the opening at the bottom of the door, knowing that she’d see.

“How else am I going to know? You’ll either never try them on or tell me otherwise!”

“Element of surprise, Rose Tyler! It’s a thing!”

He opened the door, doing the button on his jacket. The Doctor came out again, different pinstriped trousers with a matching suit jacket than his normal one and a bit darker blue.

“You have a theme, doncha?”

“I know what I like.” The Doctor smirked, waggling his eyebrows at her, a none-so-subtle hint of ' _you too_ ’ in there.

“Oh you’re so fulla yourself.” She shook her head and kicked at him. He dodged it and walked back to the changing room laughing to get his chosen clothes.

She had left him alone to peruse the pants as she stopped in the shoes, grabbing him a pair if the kind he wore but in black and meeting him again by the queue. She showed him her spoils and smiled when he excitedly giggled over her find.

The woman behind the counter smiled at her when they approached.

“Miss Tyler! Grand to see you again. Have they been treating you right on the floor?”

“Of course, Sandra. Sandra, this is my ...friend, John.” She already started taking things from his and placing them on the counter. He put the rest of them down quickly in one big pile.

“Hi, Hello, I’m John Smith.” He leaned forward and shook the woman's soft hand.

“Nice to meet you, John. Did you find everything alright?”

“Yes, he did," she answered for him, “I'm afraid you'll be cleaning up a bit. A storm may have hit one if your dressing rooms.”

“Had decisions to make! Can't expect me to walk around in my one pair of jim-jams forever, can we?” he smiled and winked at the cashier. Sandra smiled at him back, questioning the statement with a single eyebrow raised to Rose.

Rose smiled to herself and chuckled soundlessly “Thinks he's amusing but I’m so not amused,” she said, answering Sandra's unasked question while lifting her arm and hitting the Doctor square on the chest with the back of her hand. Sandra smiled as that was excepted as an answer and finished scanning tags.

Rose handed her a card with a smile, accepting her card a few moments later and being presented with more than a handful of corded brown bags. She took half of them and handed them to the Doctor before taking the others in hand. They waved a bye to Sandra as Rose pushed open the door with her rear and let him out.

“Do we _really_ have to go shopping more? Honestly I'm worn out and starving.” He muttered as they walked to the car. He almost sang, “ _We can have chips_.”


	13. All That Counts is Here and Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose takes the Doctor home

The CARDIS drove quietly through the streets and turned down a wooded road and to toward two pillars holding a white gate. Rose rolled down the window and punched a number into a keypad. The gate clicked open and let the CARDIS through and shutting promptly behind her. The light had faded to a soft golden hue. Terraced homes lined the street, all in pairs or triples, as the car weaved their way to the through the neighborhood. Eventually the frequency of the houses lessened and the spaces grew between them.

Eventually they stopped, and Rose motioned to the pair of houses in front of our the window. “Home.”

There was nothing remarkable about the pair of houses, mostly sherbet colored —though, that could be because it was dusk— with a brighter, whitish trim around the windows and doors. Rose exited the car and moved to the back, opening the trunk before he had even gotten out.

“Mickey's was the one in the left,” Rose said, breaking him from his reverie as she propped a paper bag into his arms and keeping another in hers. She walked up to the left door before taking it her keys and flipping through them until she came to the right one. She turned it in the lock as he followed her in.

Flipping a switch to turn the lights on, Rose walked straight past the stairs and a few doors, she flicked another switch in the kitchen. She put the bag down in the bare counter and motioned for him to do the same as she opened and squatted by the refrigerator.

Rose inspect the contents and put in a few things from their trip. “Condiments, two beers, and pickled onions. Called it.” She smiled lightly to herself. She looked at the Doctor before closing it again and standing. “Mine’s not much better.”

He gave her a look. “But with chips.”

“I do eat more than chips. I just like chips. Everyone has a thing they like, I like chips. You like bananas, is all you eat bananas?”

“Well,” He titled his head side to side. The Doctor looked around the room. White walls, bare furniture. It was the kitchen of a bachelor, alright.

She touched his shoulder and he turned to face her quickly. “May as well look around, right? ‘S yours if you want.” He bobbed his head in a nodding motion.

“Why don’t you show me? Adventures always go better with a companion, and this… is a definitely a new sort of …adventure.”

“Okay,” she smiled, twisting her fingers in one hand. “I’ll give you the tour. So,” she motioned around injecting energy into her tone “Kitchen,” two steps and picked open a door, “Laundry” pointing to the glass sliding door across from her, “Garden.” She then grabbed his hand, tugging him down the hall they had just come down and turned to the closed door on the left under stairs, “Closet,” motioning directly across from it and opening it “Loo,” then motioned beside that door to an open arch “Sitting.” She leaned in the arch and flicked the switch to reveal to fairly large room with two leather recliners pointed at a large flat screen TV before she paused and let his hand go. The Doctor stuck both hands in his pockets and stepped to the center of the room, looking around at the room, turning slowly.

He took in a deep breath through his nose, “Very Mickey.” There was a discussed cardboard box in the corner, but not much besides the chairs and TV.

“Yeah. ‘S fixable, though.” She smiled and elbowed him. They stood there for another minute and a half despite the lack of much to look at in the room. “Ready to see the rest?” The Doctor nodded.

Up the stairs, she introduced him to three more bedrooms, a water closet, and a full bathroom. No rooms were more decorated than the next except the largest and last bedroom. There was a bed and a dresser with picture frames all around it. Two of the frames had pictures of Mickey and scenery, but rest showed the board backing through the glass. Mickey had obviously taken them with him.

“We can get you your own stuff. It’ll make it feel smaller but might be more comfortable,” she half shrugged, looking at the ceiling. “And,” she pointed up to a rectangle with a string hanging from it on by the corner, “My favorite thing. You’ll like this bit.”

She let go of his hand and pulled, the trap door opening a bit, then Rose did a sharper tug and the rectangle dropped open from one end and a ladder unfolded with the force of gravity as the door swung perpendicular to the floor. She started to climb up the ladder, it making a few clicking noises as it secured itself. Rose paused for a second turned as she was half way up the ladder, head by the ceiling and she looked toward him. “Come on.” She turned around and climbed again, her body slowly disappearing up the ladder. He followed once her feet were about to clear.

When his head entered the space above the ceiling, he saw it.

He had entered a green house spanning the tops of both houses, glass windows leading to the outside. Through them you could see a wall by the front of the house and none toward the back. No buildings or trees obstructed the view from the clear but dirty ceiling.There were few plants, a bougainvillea and a few house plants mostly on the opposite side by a railing and a stacked, folded ladder. The well-to-do space had an iron bench in the middle adorned with orange cushions and a cheap black telescope beside it. The Doctor quickly finished the ladder, reaching his hands out to the iron railing at his side, and stepped completely into the room. He looked at Rose.

Rose, who was beaming at him.

He hadn't notice how big his smile had gotten. The space was beautiful, if bare.

“Told you you’d like this bit.”

“I thought you didn’t intend to make this permanent?”

“Didn’t. Just made the best of it.” She smiled and went toward to bench to sit.

“Well, you _do_ do that,” He sat beside her and looked straight up at the sky.

“I guess I’m just too good,” she said to the ceiling and beyond. The little quote made him look at her. “We did a lot today” She was quiet but looked at if she might say something before she did. “I’m sorry you’re here. I mean, I’m not, but I am. You’re allowed not to like this.” He signed at that and returned to watching the clouds roll.

“I don't. I do, And I don't. And really, can this be the last of you apologizing?” he shook his head. “I did this to myself, _literally_ , and I’ve done it before, well, not literally to myself those other times but still. Stuck in the 60s twice. It’ll take adjusting. I’m not against adjusting.” Rose unexpectedly scoffed and it turned him from his sky-gazing to abruptly turn to her. “I didn’t say I was good at it!” Rose laughed a bit and he smiled, “but you are good at it. You help. You’re Rose. My Rose.” The Doctor took her hand and wrapped their finger together. Rose leaned on him. “Besides, First 24 hours in a parallel world?” He kissed the top of her head as the light faded from the sky. “All in all, not a bad birthday.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and that's all I've written. I had hoped not to post until I had something else done, but I got antsy. I haven't had much time to edit it to my liking, so I might go back and muss with this a little.  
>  Thanks for reading! More days planned, but I'm still tinkering.


End file.
